But hers is essentially a coming-of-age story-one that asks what awaits a brilliant, precocious loner in adulthood. Its hero, orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon, may not be the typical mid-20th-century girl. 23, the absorbing seven-part miniseries is first and foremost a character study. An adaptation of the novel by Walter Tevis ( The Hustler, The Man Who Fell to Earth) that comes to Netflix on Oct. And one as excellent as The Queen’s Gambit feels very rare indeed. And the most authentic, vividly wrought characters of the last several years have mostly come from half-hour dramedies: Fleabag, Atlanta, Enlightened, BoJack Horseman, Better Things, Insecure, Catastrophe, Vida.Īt this point, any hour-long drama that forsakes intellectual property, narrative histrionics and expensive special effects in favor of psychological realism represents a welcome change of pace. Procedurals are getting weird The Good Wife team begat Evil. Emotional dramas like Six Feet Under and Friday Night Lights have given way to the mawkish This Is Us.
Now, pay TV platforms such as HBO and Amazon are loading up on genre fare-some but not all of it great. Maybe it was American Horror Story or The Walking Dead or even Downton Abbey’s metamorphosis from stodgy period piece to self-aware soap.
Maybe the tipping point was Game of Thrones. Forced by a surplus of original content to find a gimmick, many TV creators have turned away from realistic stories, to embrace fantasy, sci-fi, superheroes, melodrama. So-called prestige drama got darker, stranger, flashier, pulpier, scarier or simply more intense. Savannah has received universal praise for her work, and recently won both a Young Entertainer and Young Artist Award for her performance as a “miniature Hannibal Lecter”.Are TV dramas OK? I ask because, sometime during the past decade, a format once rooted in the daily struggles of more-or-less normal human beings came a bit unglued. Written and directed by Alex Haughey and Brian Vidal, the film stars Richard Neil ( Veronica Mars, Horizon Zero Dawn ) and introduces 9-year-old Savannah Liles in the titular role. The film carried that success into its digital release, drawing a broad audience on Amazon, and maintaining a fresh Rotten Tomatoes score. Prodigy wrapped an eventful festival run last year, accepting invites to nine festivals, including trips to Cinequest, Fantaspoa (Brazil) and Santa Cruz - where the film took home Best Narrative Feature honors. Only by challenging her to a battle of wits does Fonda begin to unravel the supernatural mystery surrounding Ellie - a deadly secret that threatens to destroy them both. Fonda’s unconventional methods, revealing her genius-level intellect.
As their session begins, the young girl dissects Dr. Here is a brief synopsis:Ī discrete branch of the military calls upon psychologist James Fonda to take the case of a dangerous patient, nine-year-old Ellie. Prodigy is a contained, psychological thriller with some Twilight Zone-esq edge.
Released by Gravitas Ventures in March, the title performed so well On Demand, it caught the eye of the industry giant when it came time to find a more permanent home. This “little indie that could” has chugged all the way to the top of the streaming food chain. The feature film Prodigy makes its Netflix debut on Wednesday, August 22.